Maybe you've dreamed about having the hottest nightspot in town, or maybe you fell in love with the idea of a relaxing place for after work music with friends. A nightclub needs the sort of skills ranging from things taught in sound engineer school to event management school, so it helps if you have a background in entertainment and hospitality or bars and restaurants.
The first thing you will need to do is scout a location and learn your city's zoning and liquor laws. Fire codes put a necessary cap on the number of guests you can fit at any given time, while the presence of competitors can be a good or bad thing. On the one hand, nightclubs may be found clustered together because it's the part of town that residents of a city flock to for fun, on the other hand too much market saturation dilutes your profits.
Be sure to hire reliable staff, from the bartenders to the security at the door. These people will be key to keeping your liquor licence, because you'll need them to comply with provincial regulations. Your club will also need people to keep it clean, either a day time janitor or a maid service for hire, and someone to set the mood with lighting and decorations. Maybe you will do this all yourself or maybe you will want to hire a professional. For lighting, especially with the role computers play in making it much easier, sometimes DJ training includes these skills as well, but keep in mind that more skill costs more money.
If you host a lot of parties and product launches and you're more interested in other sides of the business than the logistics, look to securing a graduate from an event management school. Clients will appreciate having someone who can handle all the details for them in house. This person might double as your manager. Eventually, even if you intend to do most of this work yourself, you'll need to delegate to staff members, especially as your business grows.
When it comes to music, you'll be the person who'll decide if you want live acts or just recordings, though a dance club will at least usually employ a DJ for all night tune spinning. Consult with a graduate of a sound engineer school regarding the acoustics of your venue and avoid places and equipment set ups that will bathe your customers in dissonance. Live acts mean constantly bringing in new bands, and pricing is very variable, from celebrities who require immense amounts of money for a single set, to unknowns satisfied to make up just the cost of performing.
Lastly, if your background hasn't given you much management experience in any of these fields, consider some classes for yourself. Better to spend the time and money now, than lose it by biting off more than you can chew.
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